Flan: not the cheese-and-tomato traybake served up for British school dinners or the Latin American creme caramel, but the magnificent custard tart that stands proud on so many French bakery counters.
I have become mildly obsessed with flans, for their unapologetic plainness, for the sturdiness of the starch-thickened filling (which is so different from the more delicate, nutmeg-flecked British custard tart) and, mostly, for the fact that they sanction the consumption of what is, essentially, a wedge of solid custard.
